Claudia Gardner has been a practicing journalist for more than 17 years, most of which have been spent at The Jamaica Gleaner newspaper. She studied Media and Communication at the Caribbean Institute of Media and Communication (CARIMAC) at the University of the West Indies (UWI), where she specialized in Print and Online Journalism as well as Social Marketing. In June 2007 she won the “Caribbean Hotel Association/Caribbean Tourism Organisation/American express Print Journalism Award for “Excellence in Tourism Reporting” at the Caribbean Tourism Media Awards in Miami. The CHA, CTO and American Express noted that her research and writing provided outstanding examples of reporting that would be recognized anywhere in the world.